Philadelphia Orchestra, choirs tune up for St. Matthew Passion'

By
Joe Barron, The Times Herald

Friday, March 22, 2013

The operatic director James Alexander has been listening to Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” nonstop since December — in his living room, in his car, even in the shower. By immersing himself in the music and the text, he has drawn inspiration for the lighting, movement and rudimentary set he will add to the Philadelphia Orchestra’s performance of the work over Easter weekend.

“I think modern audiences are used to visuals,” Alexander said March 15, speaking by telephone from his native Scotland. “I’m not pandering to lowest common denominator and trying to jazz Bach up.”

Indeed, he may simply be reinstating the element of ritual that was lost when “The St. Matthew Passion” moved from the church to the concert hall. As cantor of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig,

Bach wrote his religious music for religious services, and he brought all of his unmatched skills to bear on the task of inspiring reverence in a small and homogenous community of worshipers.

When “The St. Matthew Passion” was first performed — on Good Friday 1727 — it was broken into two parts by a lengthy sermon.

Lasting nearly three hours without the homily, the Passion is a tour de force of the vocal genres of the period, mixing choruses and arias with the gospel account of Jesus’ trial and execution. As such, it is unique among the music of the 18th century.

“Until Mel Gibson’s movie, this was the most visceral portrayal of the crucifixion,” Alexander said.

It is also unusual among Bach’s own large-scale choral works, because he conceived and wrote it whole, rather than assembling it piecemeal from the music in his back-catalog.

“It makes it very organic. It feels very natural,” Alexander said. “It all comes from this great opening chorus.”

The director, who currently lives in New York City, is the founder and artistic director of SymphonyV.0, a production company that designs stage effects for orchestras, as well as opera troupes. Last year, he provided the snazzy animated curtains that lit up the Philadelphia Orchestra’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of Leopold Stokowski’s appointment as music director.

Nothing so glitzy is on tap for “The St. Matthew Passion,” however. The lighting will be understated and traditional, as befits a sacred work, Alexander said, and it will not draw attention to itself at the expense of the performers.

“Orchestral musicians of that caliber are always rightly cautious that they’re going to be undermined,” he said. “(But) if you have a Rolls Royce, why cover it?”

Bach scored “The St. Matthew Passion” for a double orchestra and a double choir, including a boys’ choir, as well as soloists. The choirs assume a variety of roles.

Now is it an angry mob, now a stand-in for the faithful, lamenting the Savior’s persecution, and at one point, it must switch from one character to the next with no more than a single beat between.

Alexander illustrates some of the transitions by having the singers pass their scores across their faces, much in the manner of a cinematic wipe.

“A lot of my chorus work is using the scores as props,” he said. “They’re being asked to be so many things.”

The mood swings of the soloists are not so abrupt, but Alexander will also ask them to perform stylized gestures as a way of underscoring their characters’ emotional states. While some of his directions might lie outside the singers’ onstage comfort zone, challenging, he said, none is what he described as physiologically impossible.

“I never ask them to put their head in a bucket of water, but I have worked with directors who have done that,” he said. “I’m kind to singers, and I look after them.”

Still, if a vocalist objects that a particular gesture is too hard to perform, the director always has a response ready.

“I’ve done it in my living room,” he says. “Why don’t you try it?”

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, will conduct the performances, and the orchestra will be joined by the Westminster Symphonic Choir and the American Boychoir. Soloists will be Malin Christensson, soprano; Karen Cargill, mezzo-soprano; Andrew Staples, tenor, in the role of the Evangelist; Andrew Foster-Williams, bass-baritone; and, in the role of Jesus, bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni.

IF YOU GO -Bach’s “St Matthew Passion” will be performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra,with Westminster Symphonic Choir and American Boychoir, at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, March 28 to 30.